Being from California, how could I resist the call to find
out what Death Valley is all about. I
would guess that just about everyone that is native to California has heard
about Death Valley, and it had a formidable name, but I had a desire to find
out what it is about this region that caused it to be called Death Valley. Being the curious person that I am, I decided
to look into it. I was somewhat surprised
to find out that Death Valley was given its name by a group of pioneers that
were lost there in the winter of 1849-1850.
The National Park Service let me know that although only one of the group
of pioneers died there, they had all assumed that the valley would be their grave
("Frequently Asked Questions - Death Valley National Park (U.S. National
Park Service)", 2018).
Once I had learned about the origin of the name, I just had
to see it for myself and so I packed up the family and we travelled together to
Death Valley National Park to check it out in person. The first stop we made was to examine Titus
Canyon. Titus Canyon looks like it is a
big gash cut into the Grapevine Mountains, as we can see from the below picture. We found this interesting in light of our
trip to the Grand Canyon last year. We
wondered if it was the same forces that cause this canyon, or rift, to form or
if it was due to something else? Based
on what I understand about Geology, I would tend to assume that the Titus
Canyon was formed by water somehow, but where is the water or where did the
water come from? I know that no river
flows through it, so I believe that the canyon was formed with water from some source
at some point in time, and I would like to figure out where the water came from
that eroded this giant gash in the midst of the Grapevine Mountains.
The second place we visited was called Dante’s View. We learned that Dante’s View is on the north
side of Coffin Peak, along the crest of the Black Mountains, overlooking Death
Valley. We learned that Dante’s View is
a part of the Black Mountains, which is a part of the Amargosa Range, and was
created when the surface of the Earth was being stretched, which ruptured the
crust and caused lava to erupt over the sedimentary rock. As we can see from the below picture, Dante’s
View provides a truly unique view of what I would classify the “Basin” of Death
Valley. I know that the basin was
created due to a stretching of the land, but I would like to know whether or
not the stretching we can observe also resulted in any major faults? Based on my personal visit and the pictures I
was able to access, I am not able to determine whether or not there are any
faults nearby or within the basin.
The final place we visited on our trip was called Zabriskie Point. This was really a neat location where we were
able to see, what for us, was a very unique example of geology. Zabriskie Point overlooks what are commonly
referred to as badlands. Badlands are described as being a place where
everywhere you see dry, finely-sculpted rock.
Looking at the below picture, one would almost think that it looked like
it was covered in snow and ice. I was
able to find other pictures that make it appear more like what one would
expect: golden tan folds intersecting each
other. I have included the additional photo
under the original photo from the travel guide.
Seeing all of the folds, it makes me wonder what it was that caused the
folds? I know that folds are caused through
a variety and conglomeration of factors, such as stress, pressure, and temperature. I do know that most folds are caused by
compressional stress, so it would be interesting to see if that holds true in
this case. Was it strictly stress or pressure
that caused these folds, or were there multiple factors that played into it?
Credit: Badlands topography. Photo by Paul Stone, USGS
